


"Alter"nate Forms of Help

by endlcss_possibilities



Series: Corvidae [1]
Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-15
Updated: 2018-05-15
Packaged: 2019-05-07 14:20:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14672898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/endlcss_possibilities/pseuds/endlcss_possibilities
Summary: Sometimes Robin could almost forget that it wasn’t Jack that he was talking to.And other times, it was painfully obvious that a murderous, revenge-bent glitch was currently taking up residence in his friend’s body.





	"Alter"nate Forms of Help

Sometimes Robin could almost forget that it wasn’t Jack that he was talking to.

And other times, it was painfully obvious that a murderous, revenge-bent glitch was currently taking up residence in his friend’s body. 

Especially when Anti decided to glitch through Jack’s computer and Robin’s own to pay the editor a “visit” at three in the morning while Robin was working.

One minute he was peacefully editing a video of his own to put up and the next, he was being pinned against the wall by his throat by a virus wearing his friend’s face.

“Hello to you too, Anti,” Robin said, trying to seem casual despite barely being able to breathe. “Nice of you to drop in.”

Anti’s hand spasmed around his throat, the electricity crackling around it stinging Robin’s skin. He’d have mild electrical burns after this, something he’d unfortunately become accustomed to having to deal with. 

“The video today,” Anti hissed, his strange garbled speech more jarring in person than through a screen. Robin always wondered whether Anti’s vocal patterns were simply meant to mimic static and glitches, or if it was a side effect of the slit throat of the body he was wearing. 

Anti’s hand tightened momentarily around his neck, bringing Robin painfully back to the present. The glitch wouldn’t necessarily kill Robin, since he needed him to help edit the videos to make things seem normal, but he wasn’t above a little physical harm. 

“The video?” Robin repeated as soon as Anti had eased up the pressure on his neck enough for him to talk. 

“Do you think I’m stupid?” Robin winced at the feedback-like screech in Anti’s tone. “Did you think I wouldn’t notice your little stunt?”

“What little stunt?”

“Don’t play dumb. I saw the magician and your “message” to Jack.” Anti’s hand squeezed tighter around Robin’s throat to the point where the editor was gasping for air, hands automatically coming up to clutch at Anti’s wrist. “If you’re in contact with them, I’ll kill them and then you.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Robin rasped. “I swear, I don’t!”

Anti growled softly, but released Robin, the editor slumping back against the wall with a hand to his throat. 

“I’ll let it go this once, I suppose. But if I see anything like that again, I will kill you. Stay away from the others. I’m the only one you’re to be speaking with about Jack.”

With that, Anti glitched back through Robin’s computer, presumably back to Jack’s home in Brighton. Robin sighed softly, wincing at the soreness of his neck. He’d have some nice bruises and burns to cover up for a while if he was going to go out in public. 

Robin’s hand fell from his neck to hit the wall in a brief spurt of anger. He felt so goddamn helpless sometimes about this whole mess. Sometimes he felt like it was partly his fault that they were in this situation to begin with.

If he hadn’t encouraged Jack to go along with that Halloween prank…

If they hadn’t given Anti so much attention…

But that was neither here nor there now. Things were how they were and Robin had to find a way to fix it. 

Being able to sneak Marvin into the last video had been a great idea at the time, but Robin wasn’t sure how long he was going to be able to keep in contact with Jack’s other egos before Anti found out for sure that he was doing it. And Robin wasn’t sure how subtle he could make it and still have the fans notice it.

He had faith though.

They were pretty perceptive.

Still, he did wish there was some other way to get Anti under control enough so that Jack could wake up and take back control of his body. It would be so much easier if he had some kind of help, from someone that he could actually talk to and keep in contact with, but that Anti didn’t know about. 

Robin dropped back into his computer chair, rubbing his hands over his face roughly. He hadn’t been getting much sleep lately, even less than usual, because he’d been so busy trying to keep his contact with the other egos a secret and working on sneaking hints into videos without Anti noticing. The editor laid his head down on his desk tiredly.

There had to be another way to go about this.

He needed help…

But he had no one else to go to, no one else knew what he was going through…

“Did someone say something about help?”

Robin jerked upright at the soft voice, banging his knee against his desk as he did so. A soft laugh filtered through the air and Robin turned in his chair, trying to locate the source of the voice. 

“I hear you have an unruly glitch that you’d like gone?”

“Where are you? Who are you?” Another laughed followed Robin’s questions and now the editor could see the dark figure slouched in the doorway. There was something off about the silhouette of the person though, and he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. 

“Who am I? I’m someone who can give you the help that you need.”

“How? How do you know about Anti?”

“Well, I helped create him, for starters.” Finally the person moved forward into the light so that Robin could see them more clearly. The same sandy blond hair as his own, only with a jet black streak at the front. The same face.

The person looked exactly like Robin.

And Robin was pretty used to seeing other people with Jack’s face that weren’t Jack. 

But there was something different about it when it was your own face staring back at you and it wasn’t in the mirror.

The not-him smirked, a look that he definitely hadn’t ever seen before on his own face and stepped forward more.

And now Robin could see why the silhouette of him had looked so odd.

There were two massive wings protruding from the not-him’s back. They were a purpley black in color and as Robin watched, they stretched out before retracting back to their original folded position.

“You helped create Anti?” Robin asked, finally finding his voice again. “Who are you?”

“Yes I suppose this is a little odd for you, though I thought you’d be aware of the possibility that other people besides your Jack could have alter egos.”

“You’re my...you’re my ego?”

A hand was held out for Robin to shake.

“That I am. Nice to meet you Robin. My name is Crow. And I can help you get Jack back.”


End file.
